
President Michelle Bachelet called for calm and said no one is above the law in Chile following the indictment on Thursday on corruption charges of 23 people related to former dictator General Augusto Pinochet including his widow and five children.

An invasion of predatory Humboldt squid into northern Pacific waters is decimating hake catches in the Pacific Ocean, including along Chile's coast. This is the conclusion of an extensive study carried out over 19 years by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Weather conditions are improving in Mercosur main farm areas helping advance optimistic prospects for the 2007/08 harvests. In Argentina the wheat crop is predicted to reach 14 million tons while corn and sunflower planted areas are expected to increase significantly.

Tourism is booming on Isla de Pascua (Easter Island). With the height of the summer tourist season still three months away, flights and hotel rooms in The World's Navel are already becoming a scarce commodity.
Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile again recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the country during the June-August quarter, according to the latest release from the country's Statistics Office.
The Brazilian Executive is hopeful and confident Venezuela will finally become a full member of Mercosur because it's a decision that favors Brazil, South American integration and Venezuela.

Headlines:
New Cathedral minister licensed to preach; Racecourse secured for next 15 years; Ferry's arrival may be delayed; South Georgia fishing talks; Men remanded in police custody; Agreement on Camp telephones is 'close'; Peat Cutting weekend.

Borders & Southern Petroleum PLC, the Falkland Islands oil explorer, said its first half to end-June pretax loss narrowed to £117,158 from £182,010 saying the next year would be exciting as it evaluated the area covered by its production licences.

Forty British Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) Commandos from RMR Merseyside are heading back to the Falkland Islands next week 25 years on from the original South Atlantic conflict.

The United States expanded 3.8% in the second quarter in spite of the mid year credit crunch, weak housing and forecasts of a slowing down, according to a revised estimate released Thursday by the US Department of Commerce. In the first quarter the US economy expanded a sluggish 0.6%.